Shop Talk: Fox Lake

APT Education Director/Core Company Actor David Daniel has been working with inmates at the Fox Lake Men’s Prison for the last few years. His workshops include a combination of classroom-type exercises, plays and poetry readings.Many of the inmates are poets themselves, and are eager to share their art with David and the group. 

APT recently received a letter from Reverend Jerry Hancock, Director of The Prison Ministry Project, thanking APT for its work with the prisoners, and for the APT costume shop's donation of materials to help keep inmates and prison workers safe during the pandemic.

Dear APT,

Thanks so much from the men and staff at Fox Lake Correctional Institution. The donation of 140 yards of elastic (!) from the APT costume shop—along with sewing machines and fabric from other groups and congregations—means that the residents of the prison have been able to make more than 3000 masks.

As you know, inmates and staff in prison are at exceptionally high risk during the pandemic because social distancing is impossible. Wearing a mask is not only positive protection, but creating those masks is a positive activity that gives both the men and the staff a sense of being proactive in their community.

This is a great way to build on the wonderful relationships created over the past two years with the APT In Prison project. Please pass along our thanks to everyone in the APT family who made this possible, and we hope to see them back in prison next year.

Rev. Jerry Hancock JD M.Div.

Director, The Prison Ministry Project